Rabbi Yisha'ayahu Seidenfeld was born in Bodrogkeresztúr, Hungary,in 1930. His father, Rabbi Shlomo Seidenfeld, belonged to the court of Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner Z"l, known as Rabbi Yeshaya'le Kerestirer. At the age of one and a half, he moved with his family to Tiszasuj, where his father served as Rabbi and cantor of the small local Jewish community. In 1943, due to harsh Antisemitic outbursts against his father, his family was forced to move to the city of Szeged, and his two brothers were drafted into forced labor for the Hungarian army. In May 1944, after the occupation of Hungary, Rabbi Seidenfeld was forcibly moved into the ghetto in the city, along with his parents and sisters. A few weeks later, the Seidenfeld family was deported by rail to the Strasshof concentration camp near Vienna, and from there taken to a labor camp. In April 1944 Rabbi Seidenfeld was deported, together with his family and other Jews, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where his father died of typhus. At war's end, Rabbi Seidenfeld returned to Szeged, and from there immigrated to pre-state Israel in February 1947, aboard the illegal immigrant ship, Hama'apil Ha'almoni ("The Unknown Immigrant"). The ship was stopped at sea and sent to the displaced persons camp in Cyprus, where Rabbi Seidenfeld stayed until !nally immigrating at the end of that year. He enlisted to the Israeli army in 1949, and three years later moved to Canada, where he married Eszter Chana Feige; the two started a family. Rabbi Seidenfeld has been active in education for many years, and has managed several religious learning institutions. In 2001, he fulfilled his dream and returned to live in Israel.
A 46 minutes film, DVD
